Top Seven Oscar Long Shots: Marisa Tomei, Anna Paquin and More

Benigni's next feature was the 2002 version of "Pinocchio" -- which has a 0 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and, ironically, earned him the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor in 2002.

Hattie McDaniel

In 1939, the segregation of the South kept Hattie McDaniel from attending the Atlanta premiere of "Gone with the Wind," but it didn't keep her from winning and accepting the best supporting actress award for her role as Mammy.

Given the racial climate at the time, McDaniel certainly wasn't one of the favorites to win an Oscar. In her category she was up against four well-known women including her "Gone with the Wind" co-star Olivia de Havilland.

In her acceptance speech, she said winning was "one of the happiest moments" of her life.

"I sincerely hope I will be a credit to my race and the motion picture industry," she said.

Marisa Tomei

Marisa Tomei's win at the 1992 Oscars was so unexpected, a rumor surfaced -- that the presenter, Jack Palance, had announced the wrong name. The academy has denied the claim and insists that no Oscars have ever been mistakenly awarded.

Tomei won best supporting actress for playing Mona Lisa Vito in "My Cousin Vinny," a movie about two young New Yorkers traveling through Alabama who are convicted of a murder they didn't commit. They call in "cousin" Vinny, played by Joe Pesci, a new lawyer who doesn't have many cases under his belt. Tomei played Pesci's combative girlfriend -- and star witness.

The category favorite was Joan Plowright of "Enchanted April." Other famous actresses nominated in the category included Vanessa Redgrave and Judy Davis. The Golden Globe that year went to Plowright; Tomei wasn't nominated at all.

Tomei has never publically commented about the mistaken Oscar rumor, but she got the last laugh when she was nominated as best supporting actress again in 2008. She played a stripper who wins the heart of a down-and-out wrester, played by Mickey Rourke, in "The Wrestler."

Beatrice Straight

It takes a lot to win an Oscar for five minutes and 40 seconds of screen time.

Beatrice Straight won the 1976 best supporting actress Oscar for her role as Louise Schumacher in "Network." In her only scene, she tearfully confronts her husband (William Holden) over his infidelity. Straight's performance is the shortest ever to win an Oscar.

Straight was up against Jane Alexander in "All the President's Men," Piper Laurie in "Carrie" and Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver."

Before her win, Straight had done mostly stage and television work. She continued to work on the small screen after the Oscar. In one of her last film roles, she played Dr. Martha Lesh, a paranormal investigator, in 1982's "Poltergeist."

Marion Cotillard

Even in 2007's year of foreign Oscar winners, (Daniel Day-Lewis for best actor, Javier Bardem for best supporting actor and Tilda Swinton for best supporting actress) Marion Cotillard was a long shot to win the best actress statue.

Cotillard won for her role in "La Vie en Rose," playing the French songstress Edith Piaf, who climbs from poverty to become arguably France's most popular singer. She beat out the critics' favorite, Julie Christie, who played a women dealing with Alzheimer's in "Away from Her." The other nominees were all in higher grossing films -- Ellen Page in "Juno," Laura Linney in "The Savages" and Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."